S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider 1 Gallery

While this release just barely made it’s way out at the end of 2017, it’s already set the bar very high for where figures for 2018 should be. After 10 years of S.H. Figuarts, and numerous releases in one form or another of this character, Tamashii Nations has finally made the definitive figure of Takeshi Hongo’s heroic rider form. We thought it only appropriate that on today, what would have been Shotaro Ishinomori’s 80th birthday, we share our gallery of S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider 1!

From the ground up, Seihou Rider 1 is the ultimate representation of this character in 1/12 scale form. Faithfully recreating Kamen Rider 1’s most iconic look in his “Shin” costume from later in the original TV series, this appearance is how Hongo has appeared for nearly all of his appearances since it’s debut well over 40 years ago. Elevating the engineering of figuarts once again, this Shinkocchou Seihou release manages to capture the wonder of this costume perfectly and translate it’s essence into a dynamic action figure any collector should be proud to own.

We’ve attached the FULL 100 image gallery to this post, but you can also see our extensive review in the thread linked below. Just click “Discuss on the TokuNation Forums” below to see the entire gallery thread for S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider 1!

Following up from our recent look at S.H. Figuarts Takeshi Hongo, we have the most iconic riders' other new figure as well! Shinkocchou Seihou as a toyline has sought out the perfect balance of functional figures with as close to 100% screen accuracy as possible. The results frankly speak for themselves, from the first figure releases (Kabuto) to the most recent one before this (Skull), this line has continued to knock things out of the park. So how well has it worked for the original Kamen Rider? Very! Read below for our full review of S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider 1!

** This gallery is spread across the first 3 posts of this thread. Be sure to check them all out!

Packaging
That standard slipcover packaging of Shinkocchou Seihou returns again. You've seen it numerous times before. Rider 1's artwork looks really sharp on it. But of course there's nothing really new offered here. Business as usual.

Main Figure
What a time to be a collector! It's been just over 10 years since the S.H. figuarts toyline came into being. What began with figures based on the then current Kamen Rider The First film, has led us to this point. It's appropriate that 10 years later all the advances of this toyline are embodied in the releases we're looking at today. Those he's had numerous S.H. figuarts releases in one form or another over the last 10 years, finally the original Kamen Rider 1 gets the premium renewal Shinkocchou Seihou treatment!

Released at the very end of 2017, Seihou Rider 1 is easily one of the best releases of last year. It's also easily the best figure form representation of this character we've ever had. This brand new mold works to as closely as possible recreate the original suit it's based on, right down to the most minute of details. This figure is of course based on the "Shin" Rider 1 design introduced later into the original TV series run. Avid fans will of course remember the classic green and pink eyes look of the original suit as well as the darker Sakurajima Rider 1 suits used later on. But the Shin design is the one most often associated with Takeshi Hongo, and it's become his easily most iconic look. It's the form he's taken in every single appearance he's made since it's debut in the original series for the last 40+ years save for the 2016 Movie design. So it's only appropriate that this design be the one to receive the Seihou treatment first. Similarly the upcoming Seihou Rider 2 release is based on his equally iconic & standard Shin Rider 2 design.

Now, what's so special about this release? Well if you've handled any of the multiple prior Rider 1 figuarts you've undoubtedly noticed by now that those figures don't stack up to many modern releases now. They tend to be short, disproportionate, and use outdated articulation design. Seihou Rider 1 tosses all that out the window. Starting with the legs, we have a really remarkable design choice even just for the feet. A nice free balljoint is used for the ankle so you don't have much obstructing it, but it also has one of the best toe bends I've ever seen on a figuarts. That's going both directions! It just provides really stable balance. Similarly to other Seihous the legs are also expertly crafted. Akin to W or Skull, Rider 1 has a sort of receding knee joint that's hidden under the knee itself and expands as you move it. Making things look really natural and proportionate. The hips are a really interesting combinations of new ideas. Some of which I can see were borrowed from recent renewals of Super Saiyan Vegeta & Super Saiyan 3 Goku. Both of these figures featured a new hip "mesh" design. An overlay of parts that move over the hip to keep the design unbroken while posing. Rider 1 has a very similar system in place, though it can look odd from extreme angles. They aren't really impacted by his waist section at all either which is a huge relief. This figure needs to be every bit as dynamic as the real character. The legs as a whole also feature great molded in fabric style details to really sell how accurate the figure is to the actual suit. It's been a hallmark of this toyline and I love it.

Moving up, we have the latest version of the Typhoon rider belt. This is probably the best detailed and most accurate version of it done at this scale so far. Mine has a few silver paint splotches that you really only notice upon a close inspection though. Now the torso is by far the thing that sets this release apart most. Modern Rider 1 figures have very often taken his classic design and streamlined bits of it to be more modern, as in they look less like painted styrofoam and rubber. Thankfully Seihou Rider 1 embraces the original design. This couldn't be more evident than with the green padding on his chest and stomach. Right down to every rough imperfection, concave are, and ripple, the suit has been properly recreated for the first time. And it manages to look better than the actual suit still. I will warn you to be careful as on my copy the waist joint and floating torso joints are both very very tight and require a bit of force to move. But the design of the upper body is just so visually pleasing that I'm willing to forgo that criticism.

The arms are likewise greatly improved. Thankfully to a sunken in shoulder joint that doesn't protrude from the body, the shoulders are free to fully rotate 180 degrees, be fully outstretched and arched back, hell you can even completely invert the joint and turn the arm around backwards. It's an absolutely killer design. The wonderful bicep swivels return as well! Something that should be standard on every last figuart in my opinion. The elbows work perfectly and the balljoints for the hands are extended just far enough away from the wrist to free them up for dynamic posing as well. My only gripe with the arms is that they do impact the torso somewhat, and can't lay totally flat against his ribs. But that's a small price to pay for this level of functionality.

Before we tackle the head, I need to talk about the iconic scarf muffler. In box, the figure is packed with the windswept action scarf already attached while the standard normal one is an included accessory. For the sake of normalcy I attached the flat resting one when I started the gallery so you can get a sense of his basic static look. This is also probably the only part of the figure that's a huge improvement over past Rider 1 releases but is still disappointing. The socket in either scarf that plugs on the balljoint around his neck is very shallow making it very easy to pop the scarf off accidentally when posing. It's still better than the gummy rubber like plastic used on previous releases which got more difficult to take off and on over time though. I just wish it was a more secure connection. Something more like W's scarf with a proper peg hole would have worked excellently in this situation. Now to the head. I've included some side by side comparison of the Seihou mold alongside the Classic, Sakurajima, and original Shin releases just so you can a sense of the evolution of this design into this toy. The side by side shots of the Seihou mold and previous Shin mold are also incredibly striking. The old head looks small, poorly painted, has short antennae, isn't proportionate to the body. The list just goes on. In every conceivable are for improvement, the Seihou head wins. It's incredible that the same company produced both of these figures based on the same design of the same character, only about 6 years apart. The head alone is a testament to Shinkocchou Seihou.

If my gushing review didn't sell you, please enjoy the full 100 image gallery below which is spread across the first 3 posts of this thread. I had a complete blast shooting this gallery. I love doing this anyway, but it's always a pleasure to handle an excellent figure like this one.

Accessories
Sadly I'm a bit disappointed by what Rider 1 comes with:

1 - Muffler/Scarf (relaxed). It's a bit weird to me that the windswept version of the scarf is attached in box rather than this one. Generally I prefer to have the relaxed on when displaying Rider 1 but everyone has their preference. As mentioned above the ball joint for the scarf isn't very well executed. So this piece can easily pop off if you rotate the head too much or it impacts the rest of the body.

1 - Set of Replacement Antennae. As mentioned in the above section of the review, the antennae can be removed, and move independently, for some reason... Anyway, if by chance because of this design you lose one, they've included these spares. These are attached to a small pre-painted parts sprue, you just need to cut them off to use them.

4 - sets of hands. You get one set for holding handlebar, one partially opened set which sort of works for holding weapons, one that's more of a relaxed open hand, and a set of flat karate chop style palms for posing.

Contrary to the older body type releases of SHF Rider 1 & Rider 2, this go around there were a few key accessories not accounted for. Honestly I'm pretty disappointed as well. Had I not owned all of those inferior previous releases still, there'd be numerous photos missing from this gallery. Across the various previous Rider 1's we've gotten two types of Rider Kick effects, a Rider Punch effect, the Barrier Destruction Ball/Bomb, a Shocker Sword, as well as a Staff. All of these accessories I've featued in the gallery itself. Seeing as we have Seihou Rider 2 coming up soon as well as at least 2 more Rider 2 repaints, 2 more for Rider 1, and possibly 5 Shocker Riders, there's the potential to get all of these accessories even if they are pretty spread out.

Final Thoughts
Accessory complaints aside, I really couldn't be happier with this figure. When I got my first Shinkocchou Seihou nearly 4 years ago (Kabuto) I was already impressed. I was also curious as to where the line would even go at the time. Now, all this time and 13 releases later, it's shaped up to be the best of the best that Tamashii Nations has to offer. S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider 1 is (so far) the pinnacle of this line. Bring on Rider 2 and the rest of the repaints!

that looks incredible, I was wanting to get him anyway but wow! The pics are great too, I really like that final pic with his back to the camera, scarf blowing, and flames leaping up behind him. Great shots.

It's probably wishful thinking but I wonder if they'll use that mold to do a re-paint of the original green/pink-eyes version of The Rider. That would be great.

There's so few versions of the very original one. (that I've found anyway)

That said the body looks great. Granted I feel like this is less of a leap in quality compared to other SS releases.

You must not have handled the old mold much then. This is a world apart from that thing. It's incredible how different these toys are. This is one of the greatest leaps forward Bandai has pulled off yet. And that's saying something considering how huge a leap W was.

Great gallery of a fantastic figure. I like mine a lot. It's my first Showa figure too, I never really bothered picking any up but now is the time to start for sure.

And I hope they make all of them eventually. I have Rider 2 on pre-order, I hope Amazon get's put up soon and that they continue doing more after.

I really want them all now. V3, Riderman, X, Stronger, Tackle, Skyrider, Super-1, ZX, Black, Black RX... and why stop there? After they did those years will have passed so just make a new Shin, ZO, and J as well.

I just hope the pace isn't too slow, who knows what advances in figure-making they will develop on this journey